For two years, Quay Miller played for her hometown Washington Huskies. Tameiya Sadler spent one season wearing the Huskies’ purple and gold.
Whatever sentimental feelings either have will be replaced by something more important on Sunday, when the sputtering Colorado Buffaloes (14-6, 3-6 Pac-12) will face Washington (5-10, 0-7) at the CU Events Center.
“Itap just … we need a win,” said Miller, now a center for the Buffs. “If it was an Arizona team or a California team, it would still be the same goal. We need to win and handle business.”
While Miller and Sadler will see plenty of familiar faces and a jersey they know very well, they have no time to feel sentimental about their time in Seattle.
“At the end of the day, we’re here to handle business and play basketball, regardless of what team it is,” Miller said.
CU hasn’t handled its business in recent weeks as a once-special season has quickly unraveled. After a 13-0 start that had the Buffs in the Top 25 national rankings, they are 1-6 in their last seven games. On Friday they coughed up a seven-point second-half lead in a 63-56 loss to Washington State.
Although still in a good spot in regard to the NET rankings, where they are No. 36, the Buffs know they have to pile up more wins.
“Every game is crucially important,” head coach JR Payne said. “Every possession is crucially important. Until we really value every possession and communicate … until we start to do that with that level of urgency, we’re never going to reach our potential. I think thatap where our focus has to be; not, ‘Oh, we’ve got to beat Washington.’
“Itap not even basketball as much as it is just like Quay said … pour into each other and pour into the things that we know it takes to be successful. When we don’t do those things, these teams are too good. They make you pay.”
CU has struggled in a lot of areas in recent games. The Buffs are one of the least efficient teams in the Pac-12 on offense, and they’ve been dominated in rebounding.
“We sure miss someone like (injured guard) Aubrey Knight, who is just gonna get you three and four extra possessions,” Payne said. “Just pure effort, ‘I’ll get you three possessions a game.’ Obviously Aubrey’s not coming back, but somebody’s got to get us two or three more possessions a quarter just based on effort.
“We’re trying to tinker with lineups and playing a deeper bench. Like I said, we don’t really sleep. We’re doing this like 20 hours a day trying to figure out who can do what and how can we be more effective?”
With seven games remaining on the regular season schedule, plus the Pac-12 Tournament next month, the Buffs have plenty of opportunities ahead to get things fixed, but time is running out.
“I think we really need to just come together as a team, and really capitalize on stuff that we haven’t been doing, like rebounding and making shots,” Sadler said. “Really just going out and practicing on everything that we haven’t been doing.
“Yes, there is a lot of time, but we have to do it like now.”
That starts with Sunday’s game against the Huskies. Miller and Sadler said their focus will be on helping the Buffs and not reflecting on their past.
“We play it like any other game,” Sadler said. “We just go in and battle.”
CU Buffs women’s basketball vs. Washington Huskies
TIPOFF: Sunday, Noon, at CU Events Center in Boulder
BROADCAST: TV – Pac-12 Network. Radio – 630 AM
RECORDS: Colorado 14-6 (3-6 Pac-12); Washington 5-10 (0-7 Pac-12)
COACHES: Colorado – JR Payne, 6th season (86-81; 187-914 career). Washington – Tina Langley, 1st season (5-10; 131-71 career).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado – G Sila Finau, 5-9, Sr. (3.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg); G Frida Formann, 5-11, So. (8.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.7 apg); F Mya Hollingshed, 6-3, Sr. (14.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg; 1.3 spg, 1.1 bpg); C Quay Miller, 6-3, Jr. (11.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg); G Jaylyn Sherrod, 5-7, Jr. (7.9 ppg; 2.5 rpg; 3.7 apg, 1.9 spg); F Peanut Tuitele, 6-1, Sr. (6.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg); G Kindyll Wetta, 5-9, Fr. (4.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.2 apg, 2.5 spg). Washington – C Nancy Mulkey, 6-9, Sr. (9.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.4 bpg); G Trinity Oliver, 5-9, Jr. (3.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg); G Missy Peterson, 5-11, Sr. (7.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.7 apg); F Lauren Schwartz, 5-11, So. (9.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.6 apg); F Haley Van Dyke, 6-1, Jr. (11.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.5 spg); G T.T. Watkins, 5-11, Jr. (4.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg).
NOTES: This is the final game of a three-game homestand for the Buffs, who are 0-2 so far in this set. … Overall, the Buffs have lost three consecutive home games after a 10-0 start at the Events Center. They are looking to avoid their first four-game home losing streak since Jan. 12-Feb. 1, 2020. … The Buffs have gone 1-6 in their last seven games. … CU is 12-16 all-time against the Huskies. The Buffs won both regular season matchups last year, but lost to the Huskies in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. … In Pac-12 play, CU is 11th in shooting percentage (35.3), 3-point percentage (27.8) and free throw percentage (69.7). The Buffs are also last rebounding margin (minus-7.4) and have the most turnovers (19.2 per game) during conference games. … Despite being 0-7 in conference, Washington has been competitive, with five of the losses being decided by seven points or less. … Before coming to Washington April, Langley was the head coach at Rice for six seasons. She led the Owls to three consecutive Conference USA titles the last three years and to the WNIT championship a year ago. … Mulkey and Schwartz both followed Langley to Seattle from Rice.
